News Clips 02/22/2013

UF’s Board of Trustees gets new member

Florida’s Board of Governors appointed UF alumnus David Thomas to join chair C. David Brown II and the others on the university’s Board of Trustees on Thursday.

Thomas will serve a five-year term. He replaces Al Warrington IV, the namesake of the business college who was appointed in 2001, said UF President Bernie Machen at Thursday’s Faculty Senate meeting.

“I’ve never met an individual who has dedicated his professional life to his home institution,” Machen said at the meeting. “We will miss Al.”

The new trustee graduated from UF with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering in 1971 and a master’s in engineering a year later, according to a press release. Thomas, former senior vice president at IBM, is currently on the Gator Boosters’ board of directors.

“David Thomas brings to the board a proven record of leadership at multibillion-dollar corporations,” Brown said in the release.

Thomas lives in Windermere, Fla., and is married to a Gator alumna named Carol, according to the release. His children attended UF graduate programs.

“We’re quite pleased with that appointment,” Machen said at the meeting. “I think he will be a great trustee.”

The next Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for March 21 and 22, according to its website.